Clarifying Lavrov’s Comparison Of The Latest Israeli-Hamas War To Russia’s Special Operation

Russia’s top diplomat was recognizing the objective fact that they pursue common goals, albeit with completely different attitudes towards civilian casualties and regardless of whatever one may think about either conflict’s legitimacy. 

The highly diverse collection of folks that comprise the non-Mainstream Media community have been debating the merits of RT’s decision to publish an excerpt from one of Foreign Minister Lavrov’s latest interviews under the title “Israel pursuing similar goals to Russia – Lavrov”. One top influencer shared a random commentator’s screed here without comment where the latter “denounce[d] the disgusting item”, which they also called “shit”, and speculated that RT “intended” to cause “damage” to Russia.

Seeing as how the first individual has been hosted by one of Russia’s leading think tanks, is followed by over 140k people on Twitter/X, and has a biweekly show at RT’s sister company Sputnik, it’s no small matter that they of all influencers tacitly endorsed the aforesaid super toxic screed. The wisdom of biting the hand that literally feeds them aside, this lent credence to that random commentator’s accusation that RT is subverting Russia from within and fueled a very fierce debate about its policy towards Israel.

Before sharing exactly what Lavrov said and then clarifying it with the intent of protecting not only RT’s integrity, but also that of Russia’s domestic security services who are being impugned by the innuendo that they’re too incompetent to detect this alleged subversion, some background briefings are required. Many among the non-Mainstream Media community lack any understanding of Russia’s actual policy towards the latest Israeli-Hamas war after being misled into thinking that it’s against Israel.

A lot of top influencers contributed to this disinformation campaign in order to generate clout, push an ideology, and/or solicit donations from naïve members of their audience instead of telling the truth about its principled neutrality, which they likely disagree with on a personal level. Publicly condemning Russia would discredit them in the eyes of their audience, however, hence why many spun the lie about it supposedly being against Israel. Here’s a list of analyses which debunk that false dogma:

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* “President Putin On Israel: Quotes From The Kremlin Website”

* “Interpreting Russia’s Official Reaction To The Latest Israeli-Hamas War”

* “It’s Misleading To Claim That Russia Benefits From The Latest Israeli-Hamas War”

* “Russia Is Unlikely To Let Syria Get Involved In The Latest Israeli-Hamas War”

* “Russia’s Support Of Palestinian Independence Shouldn’t Be Spun As An Anti-Israeli Policy”

* “Russia Has A Balanced Approach Towards The Latest Israeli-Hamas War”

* “Russia’s Draft Ceasefire Is The Last Chance To Prevent An Unprecedented Humanitarian Crisis”

* “The US & Qatar Are Trying To Discredit Russia & India’s Policy Towards The Israeli-Hamas War”

* “Putin’s Condolences To Bibi For The Loss Of Israeli Lives Discredit A Top Disinfo Narrative”

* “It’s Significant That Putin Didn’t Ascribe Blame For The Gaza Hospital Catastrophe”

* “Russia’s Ties With Hamas Are Pragmatic & Shouldn’t Be Spun As Endorsement Of The Group”

* “Russia Has A Policy Of Principled Neutrality Towards The Latest Israeli-Hamas War”

* “Russia Isn’t Expected To Stop Israel’s Strikes In Syria”

* “Both Sides Should Appreciate Russia’s Principled Neutrality Towards The Israeli-Hamas War”

* “Analyzing Putin’s Speech From His Meeting With Representatives Of Religious Associations”

* “Here’s Why Russia Didn’t Deter Or Respond To The US’ Latest Bombing Of Syria”

* “Russia’s Top UN Diplomat Reaffirmed Israel’s Right To Defend Itself Against Terrorist Attacks”

* “Lavrov Elaborated On Russian Policy Towards The Israeli-Hamas War In His Latest Interview”

* “Russian Neutrality Towards The Latest Israeli-Hamas War Reflects Public Opinion”

* “Lavrov Revealed That Putin Has Been A Lifelong Supporter Of ‘Ironclad Security’ For Israel”

* “Lavrov Made An Important Point About How Terrorists Are Exploiting The Palestinian Cause”

* “Arab Support For The UNSC Resolution On Gaza Was The Only Reason Why Russia Didn’t Veto It”

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In brief, Russia blames the US for the structural causes of this conflict after it failed to force Israel to implement UNSC resolutions during its unipolar heyday, which radicalized Hamas’ military wing into committing its infamous act of terrorism in early October that Moscow firmly denounced. While recognizing Israel’s rights to exist and defend itself, Russia also equally denounces its collective punishment of the Palestinians and wants a ceasefire pronto in order to stop this cycle of violence.

Contrary to what the earlier cited top influencer previously wrote: Russia never considered a blockade-busting naval convoy with Turkiye that would be protected by its military assets in Syria; there’s no “near consensus” among the Russian deep state that “Israel may be a de facto enemy” of their country; Russia still remains neutral and never “pivoted to Palestine”; its aid to Palestine is purely humanitarian and doesn’t involve the “military spectrum”; and it’s not plotting to prosecute Israel for war crimes.

One week after their latest tall tale, Lavrov said that: “Israel was created from the blood of the Holocaust and our common vow of never again. I mean the horrors of World War II and attempts by another ‘superman’ to create a super-nation by subduing all others. We absolutely recognise Israel’s right to security. President of Russia Vladimir Putin repeatedly said so in public and during his contacts with Benjamin Netanyahu (as well as with Ariel Sharon before him), and numerous other Israeli interlocutors.”

Quite clearly, the reality is literally the exact opposite of the fantasy that was manufactured by that top influencer and their ilk. Russia isn’t secretly plotting Israel’s destruction on the false pretext that it “may be a de facto enemy”, but strongly defends its right to exist. Anyone who even remotely suggests otherwise is either totally ignorant of Russian policy or is lying about it to their audience. It was within this context that Lavrov elaborated more on bilateral ties in the excerpt below from his recent interview: 

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“Dmitry Kiselev: Our time is running out, but we have not yet talked about a crucial issue: the Gaza Strip. Israel has announced that the war will go on for months and that they are supposedly destroying Hamas, although the Americans have been flirting with them.

A year ago, you wrote an article for Izvestia about possible scenarios. What has happened as a result? Was the Hamas attack on Israel a false flag operation? How can we assess it? Some people even think that the destruction of Gaza is a special operation aimed at building a parallel Suez Canal from Eilat across the Negev Desert. The route is 300 kilometres long, which is not difficult to accomplish with modern technology and money. What is it? What is the essence of this geopolitical process?

Sergey Lavrov: There are many conspiracy theories.

The other day, our television and social media again reprinted a report posted in a Western media outlet by Western investigative journalists (I believe that Seymour Hersh posted it too), according to which intelligence services warned the Israeli authorities about plans for a major terrorist attack a year before October 7, 2023.

If this is true, I find it hard to believe that no preventive measures were taken, especially since I know that the Israeli army and security forces have the know-how and are always ready to launch preventive strikes.

This reminded me of another conspiracy theory, when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, following which a war was launched in Afghanistan and the Greater Middle East project was initiated.

There were other less bloody conspiracy theories, like the Moon landing, which still has not been laid to rest, although many people should have been aware of the real events in all three cases. However, these issues remained unresolved. This is strange.

I do not want to assume that normal people would be willing to sacrifice hundreds of their own citizens to create a pretext for destroying a terrorist organisation they hate and want to eliminate or to gain some economic or logistical benefits.

You said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Hamas must be destroyed as a whole and as a military force. It sounds like demilitarisation. He also said that extremism must be eliminated in Gaza. It sounds like denazification. However, I do not understand the reaction of the previous Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Yair Lapid (he was foreign minister before becoming prime minister), to our special military operation. His reaction surprised me. He said that Russia had no right to use force against civilians or to annex Ukrainian territories.

This was unfair. We discussed this with him. I do not know what he thinks and how he describes the current developments, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not criticised Russia despite the numerous critical statements [about his actions] made around the world and the fact that he is in a serious predicament. He has had two telephone conversations with President Vladimir Putin (1, 2). Just like Egypt, Israel helped us evacuate our citizens who were held captive or wanted to leave Gaza.

We should be very careful about our shared history with Israel, particularly our history of fighting Nazism. This is the main element that unifies us in terms of history. It is a fundamental element of our genetic code, so to speak.

The Holocaust and the extermination of the multinational Soviet people are comparable, but the numbers are different: six million people killed during the Holocaust and over 20 million Soviet people were killed during World War II.

A year ago, during a news conference on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Israeli ambassador in Kiev did not say anything when he was asked about the glorification of Bandera, Shukhevich and other Nazis in Ukraine and the use of Nazi symbols. When asked about Israel’s attitude towards this, he answered that it had not changed and added that Israelis still considered them to be Nazis and that this perspective would never change. However, he acknowledged that Ukraine had a complicated history, and said that he understands Ukrainians’ connection to these individuals and political organisations. This is truly alarming.”

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Summarizing Lavrov’s Insight

He began by practically ridiculing what he described as “conspiracy theories” about the origins of this latest conflict such as the one pushed by the earlier cited top influencer who previously wrote that the IDF “chose to ignore” Egypt’s warnings three days prior as a “’Pearl Habor’ pretext” for waging war against Hamas. Lavrov then moved along to making a comparison between that aforesaid conflict’s goals and Russia’s in its special operation for the purpose of pointing out the West’s hypocritical reaction.

It's true that they’re fighting to demilitarize and deradicalize their foes, but the difference is that Russia is eschewing from activities that endanger civilians while Israel has no compunctions about the casualties that they’re responsible for, which are already double Russia’s alleged toll in less than three months. No moral equivalence about their shared goals is being implied by drawing attention to this since it’s only being done to expose the West’s politically self-interested reasons in treating them differently.

Whereas former Prime Minister Lapid treated Russia’s special operation unfairly despite his own country ultimately pursuing similar such goals in Gaza sometime later, incumbent Prime Minister Netanyahu has been much more balanced and even bravely resisted immense Western pressure to condemn Russia. This pragmatic stance is certainly worthy of praise from Lavrov, who then segued into their countries’ shared history in fighting Nazism, which is exceptionally important for President Putin.

Putin’s Lifelong Philo-Semitism

He hosted Netanyahu as his guest of honor at the 2018 Victory Day parade and later elaborated more on their states’ common roots in a speech for the Keren Heyesod Foundation, which played a self-professed “leading role in the Zionist enterprise”, in September 2019. Netanyahu then hosted President Putin as his own guest of honor in January 2020 during the “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Antisemitism Forum”, where the Russian leader swore to forever fight against this ideological scourge worldwide.

Given his lifelong philo-Semitic credentials that readers can learn more about by reviewing the previously shared analysis of his official quotes from the Kremlin website, it’s little wonder that former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett gave President Putin one of the best compliments that he ever received. He told him in October 2021 that “I want to tell you on behalf of our country, the whole of our people that we regard you as a very close and true friend of the State of Israel.”  

It's within this decades-long, very deep, and fully documented context that Lavrov made his comparison between the latest Israeli-Hamas war and Russia’s special operation. Russia’s top diplomat was recognizing the objective fact that they pursue common goals, albeit with completely different attitudes towards civilian casualties and regardless of whatever one may think about either conflict’s legitimacy.  These facts upon which Russian policy is formulated aren’t widely known by many across the world.

Media Misguidance

The Mainstream Media suppresses them since Israel is portrayed as the ultimate good and Russia as the ultimate bad, so it would confuse their targeted audience if they informed them about their close ties, while the non-Mainstream Media flips those two’s roles but suppresses these facts for the same reason. As a case in point, the earlier cited top influencer and their ilk either avoid them like the plague or insult their audience’s intelligence by concocting “5D chess” conspiracy theories if they feel forced to respond.

The last-mentioned observation explains their spree of false claims about Russian policy towards this conflict that were summarized earlier in this piece, which they either propagated out of total ignorance of Russian policy or to mislead their audience for whatever their reason may be. In any case, many among the non-Mainstream Media community believe what these top influencers write, which is why that random commentator raged about RT’s article that reported Lavrov’s comparison of these conflicts.

If someone fell under the influence of this disinformation campaign, then it’s somewhat understandable (but still no excuse!) why they’d wrongly think that this article amounted to internal subversion against Russia, but the top influencer who shared their screed should have known better. They’ve been hosted by one of the country’s leading think tanks and even have their own biweekly show at RT’s sister company Sputnik so it’s unfathomable why they’d amplify that person’s super toxic conspiracy theory.

Concluding Thoughts

It impugns not only RT, but also Russia’s domestic security services by the innuendo that they’re too incompetent to detect this alleged subversion. Anyone can disagree with their decision to publish that article as well as Russian policy towards the latest Israeli-Hamas war, but no real friend of Russia’s would ever push this trash about the state. That’s what’s truly “disgusting” and “intended” to cause “damage” to Russia, not publicly financed RT and the professionalism of Russia’s domestic security services.